In an M1 Mac, all its main components are tightly integrated and interdependent. To achieve performance with versatility, they come ready-built, not kits. | Continue reading
So convenient to use – edit them in the Comments: section of Finder’s Get Info dialog. But as reliable as loose scraps of paper, and as easily lost. | Continue reading
Some articles to read before you try upgrading to Big Sur, or ordering a new Apple Silicon Mac. Insights and tips. | Continue reading
A complete guide to the structure and layout of APFS startup disks from High Sierra to Big Sur (Intel), together with tear-out PDF charts. | Continue reading
Provision of maintenance procedures and tools is at the heart of software engineering, but not in macOS. | Continue reading
Coming now to Apple Silicon Macs: all ARM-native executable code is required to be signed. Full details of this important change. | Continue reading
macOS Catalina is the first version of macOS which boots not from a single volume, but from two: a read-only System volume named by default Macintosh HD, and a writeable Data volume with the defaul… | Continue reading
Can face masks cause breathing problems? Why isn’t there good research into cloth face masks? And much more. | Continue reading
Even the ‘successful’ contact tracing apps have fallen well below expectations, and incapable of discovering their effectiveness. | Continue reading
macOS 11.0 will identify itself differently according to the SDK used, and an environment variable does the same for scripts. | Continue reading
They’re responsible for determining Gatekeeper’s checks, contain Finder information, and much more. With a new free tool too. | Continue reading
If you have scripts or code which check which version of macOS is running, be careful with Big Sur. Is it 11.0 or 10.16? | Continue reading
Some files rely on these to work properly. What happens when you share such a file using your iCloud account? The answer isn’t simple, but here are full details. | Continue reading
APFS adds 6 volume roles, including one which supports Time Machine backups. And per-file encryption is coming. | Continue reading
How to set the total size, and band size, for your sparse bundles, with calculation of the critical band size. | Continue reading
Free video surveillance software allowing capture, analysis, recording and monitoring of any CCTV or security cameras. Using IP and web cameras, you can design a system as large or as small as you need with our free video surveillance software. | Continue reading
There’s no shortage of entries, but are they the ones you need, and do they contain the information that’s important? How to change that. | Continue reading
Without addressing shortcomings in tools and maturity of macOS, 10.16 has flawed foundations, and is likely to fall flat. | Continue reading
Apple is proud of high adoption rates of its OS upgrades. But 10.15 and 10.16 inevitably prevent many from using them. It’s time for Apple to understand that, and make 10.16 a macOS release w… | Continue reading
Remember MacKeeper? Would it surprise you to hear that it has now been notarized? Let me tell you a little about its notorious past. | Continue reading
How can you squeeze recovery data into smaller storage space than you’d need for a second copy of a file? Using codes, explained here. | Continue reading
Which format – alongside Camera Raw – should you store archived images in: JPEG, PNG, TIFF or Apple’s new HEIC? | Continue reading
If you wanted to mess someone’s Mac up, you could go into their system files and change things around when they were out at lunch. | Continue reading
Where does Apple warn the user that four stray files in an unprotected folder are specially protected by the Sandbox kernel extension? | Continue reading
Just fill in this form – then the problems start. They look fine in Preview or another app, but don’t work right. Here’s why. | Continue reading
When making a first full backup of less than 2 GB takes 86 minutes, and you then can’t restore from it anyway. | Continue reading
Using Little Snitch, this becomes unresolvable, as the app can’t complete first run checks, and every time you try, it’s translocated to a different folder, causing Little Snitch to blo… | Continue reading
Although 10.15.3 fixes a serious bug in Mail and Catalina is steadily maturing, there are many users who still shouldn’t upgrade. | Continue reading
What does the terse phrase Erase Mac mean? If you think that it means completely erase your Mac, then I’m with you. But that apparently isn’t what Apple means, at least not when it come… | Continue reading
A recent judgement makes it a breach of copyright to sell pre-owned eBooks. Do publishers really want to deter everyone from buying eBooks? | Continue reading
New series looking at how TM works, what its problems are, what tools to use to diagnose those, and how to fix it. | Continue reading
Note: I have now updated this with the latest roadmaps for 10.15 release. A further article will follow on 11 October explaining more about these. When you upgrade to macOS 10.15 Catalina, your boo… | Continue reading
Time Machine has changed in Catalina, but details haven’t been provided. How best to prepare to upgrade, and how to address its problems. | Continue reading
What’s the minimum size of a container, or a volume, in APFS? The answer can range from 1.05 MB up to 167.8 MB, it appears. | Continue reading
Little changed from 10.14.5, the final release of Mojave still has many significant bugs. Here’s a partial listing. | Continue reading
Apple has pulled the High Sierra and Sierra Security Updates 2019-004 today as a result of numerous users suffering problems when their updated Macs go to sleep. These have been reported particular… | Continue reading
Preparing software for distribution shouldn’t be harder than writing the code in the first place. | Continue reading
What are the benefits to leaving your Mac running all the time? And the costs? Which should you choose to do? | Continue reading
Want to use App Shortcuts in Mojave? You’re out of luck because its broken, and Apple can’t be bothered to fix it. | Continue reading
More bugs in Calculator and Activity Monitor when printing, dreadful lack of documentation of AppKit, TextKit, and CoreData. No wonder Apple is struggling to sell iPhones in China. | Continue reading
Mojave has 5 different types of copy/clone/alias/link, some of which can appear to behave oddly. Here they are, fully explained. | Continue reading
How does the volume structure differ between Fusion Drives in HFS+ and APFS formats? Does Disk Utility show an accurate picture? | Continue reading
Over 7 GB installed, Apple claims it only adds Group FaceTime, adds over 70 new emoji, and fixes a list of vulnerabilities. So what has actually changed? | Continue reading
Permissions, ACLs, SIP, TCC privacy protection, and now DataVaults – Mojave has many ways of stopping software from opening files and folders. | Continue reading
Mojave checks newly-installed apps which are not from the App Store more thoroughly, and handles notarized apps differently too. Here are some details. | Continue reading
Consolation, LockRattler, Storyspace documents, and more. | Continue reading
Apple has shown a way ahead for full apps to access private data in Mojave, but has been curiously silent with respect to command tools. How will they cope? | Continue reading
A clear guide to the complexities of privacy protection in Mojave – written for the user rather than the developer. Also free PDF version for download. | Continue reading